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Should homeless people have pets?


Claire.

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This seems an odd question. A homeless person is still a person with rights, and we're all allowed to have pets if we want to. Those pets can be seized if they are being mistreated, but if they're being cared for, what would the problem be?

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First off a homeless person is not actually someone that can't take care of themselves. The fact is that most of them are real survivors and can probably take better care of a animal than most folks. It really doesn't take a lot to take care of a dog, Food is plentiful for dumpster divers and water is easy to get nearly anywhere in a city. The fact is they have more time and pay more attention to their pets than most pet owners do. 

Some of these people are just a little crazy and some are drug addicted but if they are incompetent they don't last long on the streets. I used tio have a homeless friend that not only took care of himself but also fed hundreds of stray cats. People donated cat food to the cause and he fed all the stray cats. Many of these cats were wild and feral but you would see him sitting on a park bench with dozens of cats sitting all around him. He had left some part of himself in the jungles of Vietnam evidently but he still had the ability to love and care. He wasn't drug addicted or a drunk; he just didn't deal well with people and didn't like wall around him unless it was cold. He was clean and quiet and bothered nobody.

People NEED something to love. I live in Huntsville Texas. The Texas prison system is here and we have thousands of people locked up in a dozen or so prisons. My wife retired from working there my daughter works there and most of my friends over the years have worked there. Even in prisons it is amazing the lengths to which people will go to have a pet. They catch mice and lizards and train them. You have chameleon lizards that have been kept as pets for so many generations that they are as domestic as a dog. Any job that allows them contact with the animals is coveted and the prison system raises and trains horses for police departments all over the country. They are starting up a new program that will have inmates training service dogs. They have found that doing this sort of thing has a huge positive effect on the inmates. 

People always seem to sort of dehumanize the outcasts of our society but the truth is they need the humanizing contact that loving and the love an animal offers more than nearly anyone. For the homeless, food and drink are easy to get. It is the emotional connections and support that they have the most trouble finding and accepting. 

Edited by DanL
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